The present invention relates to a network communication system and method to enable the real time buying and selling of electricity generated by fuel cell powered vehicles and/or stationary fuel cells.
There are many serious environmental concerns regarding internal combustion engines employed in motor vehicles. Such engines cause irreversible pollution, operate at low efficiencies, and require the combustion of non-renewable fossil fuels. In response to this pollution crisis, car manufacturers are working diligently at developing alternative energy systems, which do not require combustion reactions.
Alternatives to internal combustion engine powered motor vehicles have included various types of electric vehicles. Typical electrical vehicles are powered by nickel cadmium batteries which are rechargeable by stationary direct current power supplies. These systems suffer from many disadvantages. Since the batteries require constant recharging, these cars are not well suited for driving long distances. Additionally, these types of cars generally are not adapted for highway driving, as they are considered to be underpowered. Moreover, due to the weight of the batteries, these types of cars tend to be heavy, which in turn impairs their performance. With current technology, such electronically powered cars are prohibitively expensive.
Various hybrid vehicles have been proposed. Typically, hybrid vehicles have two power sources and are intended to improve overall fuel efficiency. A basic design principle for many hybrid vehicles is based on the concept that power demands for a car or another vehicle fluctuate over a wide range; thus, the intention is to provide one, efficient power source that provides a certain base power requirement and another power source that provides the additional power required to meet peak power requirements.
One type of hybrid vehicle utilizes a combination of a fuel cell and an internal combustion engine to provide sufficient power to propel the vehicle. However, using current technology, such vehicles are expensive to manufacture and operate. Furthermore, since a typical vehicle is only used for a small fraction of the time, the fuel cell is underutilized. Accordingly, without a secondary use for the fuel cell, the high capital cost of the fuel cell is not justified.
Different types of fuel cells including proton exchange membranes, solid oxides, high temperature fuel cells, and regenerative fuel cells have been explored for use in motor vehicles. Currently, most of the research is directed towards a proton exchange membrane fuel cell comprising an anode, a cathode, and a selective electrolytic membrane disposed between the two electrodes. In a catalyzed reaction, a fuel such as hydrogen is oxidized at the anode to form cations (protons) and electrons. The ion exchange membrane facilitates the migration of protons from the anode to the cathode. The electrons cannot pass through the membrane and are forced to flow through an external circuit thus providing an electrical current. At the cathode, oxygen reacts at the catalyst layer, with electrons returned from the electrical circuit, to form anions. The anions formed at the cathode react with the protons that have crossed the membrane to form liquid water as the reaction product. Typically, a combustion reaction is not involved. Accordingly, fuel cells are clean and efficient.
One drawback associated with the known prior art fuel cell systems, however, is that they are not economically viable for use in a vehicle. Typically a vehicle requires a fuel cell with a power rating of at least 20 kW to be able to meet propulsion demands. Given the current production costs for fuel cells, a fuel cell power unit of sufficient size for a car represents a significant investment and in effect, greatly increases the initial cost of the car. Even though there are significant fuel cost savings with a fuel cell power unit, the ongoing savings throughout the lifetime of the car do not justify the higher initial capital costs of current fuel cell technology.
Several proposals for addressing this problem can be found in issued patents. U.S. Pat. No. 5,858,568 provides for off-board use of the electricity generated from at least one stationary fuel cell powered vehicle. U.S. Pat. No. 5,767,584 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,107,691 both disclose inventions for generating electrical power from multiple stationary fuel cell powered vehicles parked in a parking lot. All of these inventions are based on the realization that a fuel cell power unit of a car represents a significant power source, and unlike a conventional combustion engine, can efficiently generate electrical power that can be readily taken off the vehicle for use elsewhere. Furthermore, a fuel cell can generate electricity virtually free of pollution, whereas an internal combustion engines produces green house gases which contributes to acid rain. Moreover, unlike conventional gas engines, the wear and tear from additional use of a fuel cell is quite small. Thus with suitable financial incentives, it is believed that vehicle owners would effectively be prepared to rent out the power unit of a vehicle simply as an electrical generator, when the vehicle is not in use. Payments made for use of a vehicle""s fuel cell power unit effectively provides the subsidies necessary to justify the higher initial capital costs of the fuel cell powered vehicle. A further consideration is that fuel cell engines are powerful, typically in the range of 20 kw to 40 kw, so that the power of the order of Megawatts would be generated from a small number of vehicles. To enable power to be recovered from a large number of vehicles, the intention is to provide a suitable facility at a parking lot or the like.
According to U.S. Pat. No. 6,107,691, a parking lot is equipped with individual docking stations, each providing a fuel line, and an electrical receptacle for connection to an electric cable. An electric power grid is electrically connected to the electrical receptacles in the parking lot for transferring direct current (DC) electrical power from the fuel cells in the parked vehicles to an electric power collection station. The electric power collection station is then electrically connected to the electrical power grid for transfer of electric power after conversion to alternating current (AC) to the end user. At least one inverter is provided in the electric power collection station for converting the DC electric power to AC electric power. In this distributed energy system, parked vehicles can be operated and the resulting energy harnessed and distributed through an electric power grid to provide electrical power for local or distant use.
Although the known prior art systems describe some of the technical aspects of the distributed energy system, these known proposals do not specifically address the overall communication system and method required for this system to work properly and efficiently; in particular, they fail to provide systems and methods for accounting for fuel used and electricity generated. Clearly, as compared with any fixed generating plant, a vehicle-borne fuel cell unit is mobile, and this presents unique requirements such as identifying the vehicle, and providing metering and billing for fuel consumed and electricity generated by the vehicle. Without an overall communication network, it is conceivable that the participants in such a scheme would have to separately negotiate contracts before receiving all of the relevant information. For example, an owner of a fuel cell powered vehicle may have to set or agree to an electricity supply price, or vice versa a fuel price. In this scenario, the fuel cell powered vehicle faces a disadvantage of having to negotiate a contract without all of the relevant information required for economic power generation. This type of uncertainty leads to an inefficient energy market. Additionally, there would be substantial accounting and record keeping complexities.
Conventionally many utilities, such as electricity, gas and the like have been distributed by large companies, which often have a monopoly for distribution in a particular area. Additionally, pricing for energy supplies such as electricity has been inflexible and based on long term contracts. For example, the price of electricity is set, and in many jurisdictions, is subject to government regulation, for time periods of the order of months or years.
More recently, the concept of xe2x80x98distributed generationxe2x80x99 is becoming recognized. Generally, xe2x80x98distributed generationxe2x80x99 is seen as the supply of electricity at a point closer to the consumer than traditional power plants thus reducing the requirements for electricity transmission and optimizing power plant system efficiencies. Distributed power plants could provide power to a single user or to an entire grid, but in either case are typically expected to be a few orders of magnitude smaller in power output than centralized power plants.
Many people believe that distributed generation will change the format of the electricity grid in the 21st century, as the consumer gains more control over their electricity choices in source(s), distribution and transmission. The technology used for distributed generation, coupled with the Internet, provides a unique opportunity to enhance the efficiency of the electrical power industry.
A distributed power plant system that is optimized using currently available technologies could be described in numerous ways. For example, a high efficiency, low emission vehicle-borne fuel cell can provide the basic power source for a vehicle; additionally, it could be used to provide power to the grid during non-driving periods. Such a concept would enable more efficient use of existing technologies and vehicles. These fuel cell-powered vehicles would require a fuel to operate (hydrogen in its simplest form) and could utilize any fossil fuels containing hydrogen (e.g. natural gas or methanol) either on board or from a central generating station for this purpose. With a suitable interconnection device, these cars can be plugged in wherever they are parked, for example at the owners place of employment, and could be refueled and provide power at the same time to the main grid (for centralized distribution) and for their specific location (distributed generation, UPS and high reliability in the order of 99.9999% of power generation).
Other technologies for distributed generation could include diesel generators, micro-turbines, wind, solar and hybrid combinations of these generators. However, the main interest of the present invention pertains to vehicular fuel cells. Nonetheless, it should be recognized that, in any distributed generation scheme, fuel cells are unlikely to be the sole source of distributed generation power.
In practice, fuel cells are not operated as single units. Rather, fuel cells are connected in series, stacked one on top of the other, or placed side by side. A series of fuel cells, referred to as fuel cell stack, is normally enclosed in a housing. The fuel and oxidant are directed through manifolds to the electrodes, while cooling is provided either by the reactants or by a cooling medium. Also within the stack are current collectors, cell-to-cell seals and insulation, with required piping and instrumentation provided externally of the fuel cell stack. The stack, housing, and associated hardware make up the fuel cell module.
However, the present invention provides for an extension of the typical fuel cell stack whereby, in addition to connecting the fuel cells in series, stacked one on top of the other or placed side by side, the fuel cells become connected through the grid and the Internet, forming a meta-network of energy generation.
Fuel cells may be classified by the type of electrolyte, either liquid or solid. The present invention can apply to any type of fuel cell.
The fuel commonly used for such fuel cells is hydrogen, or hydrogen rich reformate from other fuels (xe2x80x9creformatexe2x80x9d refers to a fuel derived by reforming a hydrocarbon fuel into a gaseous fuel comprising hydrogen and other gases). Alternatively, the hydrogen may be generated by one or a combination of the sources, including, but not limited to, wind, solar, bacteria, nuclear, hydroelectric, cold fusion, methane derived from coal beds, or methane hydrate from the ocean floor. Hydrogen could also be generated by electrolysis, but clearly as the present invention essentially proposes consuming hydrogen to generate electricity, this will likely only be commercially feasible where hydrogen can be generated economically using cheap, off-peak electricity, stored, and then used to generate electricity during a peak rate period. The oxidant on the cathode side can be provided from a variety of sources. For some applications, it is desirable to provide pure oxygen, in order to make a more compact fuel cell, reduce the size of flow passages, etc. However, it is common to provide air as the oxidant, as this is readily available and does not require any separate or bottled gas supply. Moreover, where space limitations are not an issue, e.g. stationary applications and the like, it is convenient to provide air at atmospheric pressure. In such cases, it is common to simply provide channels through the stack of fuel cells for flow of air as the oxidant, thereby greatly simplifying the overall structure of the fuel cell assembly. Rather than having to provide a separate circuit for oxidant, the fuel cell stack can be arranged simply to provide a vent, and possibly, some fan or the like, to enhance air flow.
The fuel can be supplied from fossil fuels but needs to be converted to hydrogen before use in the fuel cell. This conversion is typically performed with some sort of reformer. Presently, there are three general types of reformers: partial oxidation, auto thermal and steam. These reformers vary greatly with respect to operating conditions, size, efficiency, etc. However, a reformer is required with any fuel cell system when hydrocarbon fuel is used.
A fuel cell operates at its highest efficiency while idling or supplying minimal power, in contrast to internal combustion engines, which operate at their lowest efficiency while idling or supplying minimal power. In a fuel cell, as the power output increases to the peak output power, the efficiency correspondingly decreases. Fuel cells operating at low utilization offer advantages over traditional power plants because they will generate power at potentially higher efficiencies than these power plants. Using the United States as an example, the total amount of electrical power required for industrial and residential use is provided repeatedly by new car production every year. Consequently, the concept of underutilized, high efficiency fuel cells becomes attractive for distributed generation. In fact, a grid supported primarily by many parked vehicular distributed generation plants may be the future of the energy industry, and may replace most if not all of central generation. Even a relatively small number of vehicles could provide the equivalent of 1 MW of power, over a large number of locations.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a network communication system and method for enabling the real time buying and selling of electricity generated by fuel cell powered vehicles parked in a parking lot or the like. Specifically, there is a need for a system and method for energy trading that provides for: proper metering and billing for fuel used and energy generated; timely and accurate communication between all of the participants; and, availability of unbiased information to all of the participants.
What the present invention realizes is that the use of vehicle-borne fuel cells and/or stationary fuel cells as power sources offers advantages that have not yet been realized, and includes unique issues in the business method that need to be addressed for such a scheme to be fully realized.
The advantages come from the fact that fuel cells offer an interruptible power supply that can be readily turned on and off. This is in complete contrast to most conventional power sources, as they typically cannot be switched in and out of the grid on controlled time scales.
This in turn should more readily enable pricing of electricity to be varied on short time scales, possibly of the order of fractions of hours, minutes, or in a real time. More significantly, this can affect both consumers and generators, both at the retail/consumer level, and the wholesale level. In contrast, while there is currently real time trading in electricity supplies, this usually occurs between energy service providers, distribution companies, utilities and large industrial users. Smaller individual consumers, whether residential, commercial or light industrial users typically enter into a contract with a utility, distribution company, energy service provider or independent power producer (IPP) for supply of electricity at an average or contracted market price.
The present invention then recognizes that you would then have a situation where a significant portion of the electricity generated could be from devices, e.g. fuel cells, capable of rapid and interruptible response. If one further factors in that, as yet another aspect of the present invention, costs, for both consumption and generation of electricity, could be communicated instantaneously in real time to both consumers and generators, then there is a possibility of providing for real time modification of the behavior of both consumers and generators to meet current electricity demand.
In effect, if demand for electricity increases significantly, this can be relayed or transmitted by notifying both consumers and generators of an increased price. This should encourage more people to make vehicle-borne fuel cells and/or stationary fuel cells available for generation of electricity, while at the same time might encourage consumers to turn off, or defer use of, high consumption appliances which are capable of instantaneous or rapid interruption, i.e. they can be turned on or off quickly. Correspondingly, during periods of low electricity demand, e.g. during the night, prices are usually lowered, thereby encouraging users of electricity to switch demand to such a low use period where possible, while encouraging owners of fuel cell powered vehicles to use their vehicles during these periods.
What the earlier prior art proposals identified above failed to address is the whole issue of accounting for fuel consumed and electricity generated, when a vehicle-borne fuel cell and/or a stationary fuel cell is used to generate electricity. For any fixed generating station, however small, the operator of the station is usually responsible for obtaining and paying for fuel required to run the station, and it is a simple matter to record and account for electricity generated and supplied to a distribution grid. Where electricity is generated by vehicle-borne fuel cells and/or stationary fuel cells, there is a whole different set of issues to be addressed. Firstly, the number of different xe2x80x9cgenerating stationsxe2x80x9d becomes many orders of magnitude greater, quite conceivably of the order of millions in North America.
Each fuel cell powered vehicle operates as a small, movable generating station. Where, as detailed below, it might be plugged into a docking station in a parking lot or the like, fuel would be supplied by some third party supplier and electricity generated would flow to an adjacent residence, commercial or industrial user or flow back onto the grid, either individually or via an aggregator of electricity for dispatch onto the grid. Additionally, stationary fuel cells located in residences can also be operated to deliver power to the grid. This presents new and unique requirements in terms of accounting for fuel used and electricity generated. If one factors in the additional parameter of potentially rapidly varying prices for electricity, and even fuel, the communication, control and record keeping issues become significant.
More significantly, the present inventors have realized that the features of the present invention provide the missing elements to provide a more liquid market by enabling more depth and breadth of the electricity market. Additionally, the present invention recognizes that it will likely be employed in an environment where the cost of fuel may well be fluctuating on a short time scale. In contrast, the earlier proposals outlined above, namely U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,858,568, 5,767,584, and 6,107,691, fail to address any of these issues, and, practically, could only be employed in an environment where the cost of fuel used and electricity generated can be taken to be constant for significant time periods.
For a vehicle owner where the price paid for electricity generated and the cost of fuel supplied can both be varying, this presents unique problems. Firstly, there is the problem of communicating this information in a timely manner to the participants. Secondly, there is the problem of making a decision of when to actuate the vehicle""s fuel cell and when not to use it. Thirdly, there is the problem of properly accounting for the credits and debits for the participants in the scheme given the rapidly fluctuating fuel and electricity prices.
By way of general overview, one aspect of the present invention provides a parking lot which is adapted to harness electrical power from a plurality stationary fuel cells and/or fuel cell powered vehicles. For example, the vehicles could be parked in a parking lot or the like. Specifically, the parking lot contains a plurality of individual docking stations, which have connections to the vehicles for the supply of a fuel and for transfer of electricity to an electrical power grid. From the vehicles, the generated power travels to an aggregation unit, which physically aggregates the power, harnessed from the fuel cell powered vehicles. The resultant electrical energy can be used of in one of two ways. The aggregation unit can be controlled by an energy service provider to send a DC power supply directly to end users through a local DC power grid. DC power is limited to local usage due to the losses which occur during long distance transmission through a DC grid. Alternatively, the aggregation unit can be controlled by the energy service provider to provide an inverter for the electricity, and ultimately supply the alternating current (AC) into an AC power grid for local or distant use. It is to be understood that in some cases, the owner of the aggregation unit and the energy service provider will be the same entity. A real time network connects: a fuel supplier, which would be delivered through a distribution company, but can take the form of any party wishing to sell fuel; a fuel cell vehicle or aggregation of fuel cell vehicles; and an energy service provider and/or any party wishing to buy electricity, with such electricity being delivered via an electricity distribution company.
Alternatively, the fuel cell powered vehicles may optionally have onboard inverters to convert DC power to AC power. Practically, it is expected that many fuel cell powered vehicles will have inverters, as there are advantages to using AC motors in vehicles, which necessitates inversion of the DC output from a fuel cell power unit to AC. In this scenario, DC power is produced and inverted to AC on-board the vehicles, prior to passing to the docking stations. The docking stations are then adapted to receive AC power from the vehicles, and where required transform the voltage. AC power flows from the individual docking stations to the aggregation unit to be harnessed. Clearly, in this scenario, it is preferred for the inverters to generate AC power at the same frequency as used on a conventional electricity grid. It will be understood that local codes need to be followed, which often will require protective devices, to protect the grid, and it may be necessary to provide an input to a vehicle inverter to synchronize it with the grid.
In a first embodiment, the present invention relates to a method for enabling the real time buying and selling of electrical power between at least one fuel cell power unit, which can be a stationary power unit or a power unit of a vehicle, and an energy service provider. The method comprises providing a docking station, which has connections to the fuel cell powered vehicle for the supply of a fuel and for transfer of electricity to the power grid. The method further comprises determining the current cost of fuel and price paid for generating electricity. Based at least on the cost of fuel and price paid for generating electricity, the method further comprises determining whether to make the fuel cell powered vehicle available for generation of electricity. In cases where the fuel is consumed by the vehicle and electricity generated by the vehicle, the method further comprises collecting data on the quantity of fuel consumed and amount of electricity generated, calculating the cost of the fuel and the value of the electricity generated, and providing a debit charge for the cost of fuel consumed and a credit charge for the value of electricity generated. This and other aspects of the invention envisage that the docking station could either be a public docking station, e.g. in a public parking facility, or a private docking station, e.g. at someone""s residence.
In the near future, it is expected that emission credits will become a valuable commodity. Emission credits may be awarded to energy producers who generate minimal pollutants. Accordingly, these credits can be sold to traditional energy producers, i.e. coal producers or, coal-fired power stations and the like, in order to subsidize xe2x80x98cleanxe2x80x99 power production. These emission credits can be taken into account when determining whether it is economic to produce electricity. Moreover, the emission credits can be accounted for through metering and billing.
In a second alternative embodiment, the method is the same as the first embodiment except as described below. In this scenario, the energy service provider pays each fuel cell vehicle a flat fee in return for the usage of the fuel cell for a set number of hours per day. Accordingly, the energy service provider deals directly with the fuel gas suppliers and the consumers of electricity and decides whether or not to make the vehicles available for energy production.
These systems and methods provide for an efficient energy market by providing real time communication between all of the participants. This method and system of communication saves time, money and considerable effort by eliminating the need to separately negotiate numerous individual contracts Thus, these systems and methods provide complete turnkey solutions for this unique distributed energy system. Specifically, the systems and methods of this invention provide: proper metering and billing for fuel and energy actually used; timely and accurate communication between all of the network users; availability of unbiased information to all of the participants.
The proposed distributed generation system could be monitored and controlled using a network such as the Internet, or other network. This would allow for optimization of the power grid in real time by taking advantage of the fast communication and processing available using this system. For example, each automobile or vehicle as described in this specification could be monitored (while connected, either wireless or wired) to the network and could be turned on when appropriate to supply power at an optimized set point. Safety and operating regimes would be controlled through the network.
A key novel aspect of the present invention is that each car or each stationary fuel cell unit and each docking station would be assigned a unique digital identification, which may be used to meter, report and control the fuel cell operation while, in the case of a vehicle, the vehicle is connected to the docking station, for refueling and transmission of electricity. Communication is effected over the Internet, which can include wireless communication. This digital identification may be in the form of any PKI (public key infrastructure) certificate, which could be encapsulated in a smart card, a hardware key, or a software file located on the onboard computer controller in the vehicle. All network participants will have a PKI digital identification issued to them for the purpose of authenticating and encrypting the communications between the parties.
The vehicle will also be dynamically allocated an Internet IP address, which will allow it to communicate with other entities on the Internet. In traditional network schemes, IP addresses are typically associated with a computer or server connected to the Internet, not a vehicle, or stationary power generation plant. However, by linking all cars and stations to the network, it becomes possible to treat the overall fleet of cars and stations connected to both the grid and the network as a meta-network of energy, similar to the meta-network of information of the traditional Internet.
This meta-network intelligence of fuel cell energy grids through the Internet will offer many advantages. For instance, it will reduce the probability of overloading the transformers, and allow for the distribution and transmission of overloads to other docking stations. Other advantages are described below.
In a particular embodiment, for instance, the car""s unique identification allows the association of an efficiency and power rating to a particular session, so that real time optimization of the power grid could occur, by modulating individual car""s generation or by modulating car clusters"" generation. In this fashion, for instance, only the highest efficiency power sources would be used at any one time and take into account costs.
Also, through the assignment of digital identifications and IP addresses to vehicular fuel cells and to docking stations, real-time pricing, location-based pricing, and trading of both electricity and the fuel source can occur. Network communications can allow for secure transaction and for uniquely identifying economic agents during a docking session, for metering, controlling and for ulterior billing and payment to the owners of fuel cell cars, parking lots, adjacent businesses and residences or energy providers.
In North America and elsewhere, it is being recognized that, for the distribution of various standard utilities (e.g. gas, electricity, water, telephone services and the like), the costs of distributing the services and collecting payments from the users and the like can be separated from the actual physical supply of the service. For example, in many jurisdictions, electricity supply services are being broken down into separate elements, provided by different companies or entities. There can be one company actually operating power plants to generate electricity and a second company operating fixed distribution groups. Further, there can then be energy service providers, who purchase electric power in bulk and provide adequate remuneration to the operators of the generating stations and the distribution groups. These distribution companies then resell the electricity, at the retail level, to individual industrial and residential consumers. The theory behind the scheme is that standard competition in the market place will cause distribution companies to drive down costs and offer end consumers the best possible price for electricity consumed. It also encourages distribution companies to be creative in pricing schemes, and quite possibly individual distribution companies may target different markets. For example, some distribution companies may target larger, industrial consumers, others may target residential consumers, while yet other distribution companies may, for example, offer special schemes that offer varying pricing over a 24 hour cycle, designed to appeal to a particular group.
Energy deregulation should increase the liquidity of electricity in the marketplace. As the energy market expands, longer term trading, shorter term trading, and peak trading will likely occur. As deregulation increases into a more distributed generation environment with individuals, companies, and other single point power generators generating and selling power, the electricity market will gain breadth and depth, thus allowing for trades of more flexible size, term, and specification.
As noted, such a separation of business activities has been adopted for many utilities. As a further example, for many North American customers of telephone services, their actual telephone will be connected by a single line to a standard telephone network, yet the customer has the choice of buying telephone services from a number of suppliers.
In the electricity industry at least, this has resulted in a radical change in the buying and selling of electricity. Conventionally, a consumer of electricity purchased electricity from a vertically integrated company, which often was in a regulated, monopoly situation. The supply company would operate both the generating plant and the distribution network and would supply electricity at a fixed rate, which due to monopoly considerations was often regulated by government. Due to this rigid structure and the fact that conventional electricity generating sources are inflexible, electricity prices were typically fixed for long periods of time, e.g. of the order of months or years. It has always been well known that electricity demand fluctuates throughout the day, and will vary between a weekday and a weekend for example. To allow for this, some electricity supply companies would offer incentives intended to try to smooth out demand. For example, industrial users and the like would be encouraged to move more demand to nighttime hours when demand is traditionally low. This has resulted in variation in rates between, for example daytime and nighttime, but nonetheless such rates would be fixed for periods of the order of months. This recognizes the fact that conventional, large turbo generator sets require many hours to start up and run down, and a large part of installed generating equipment is incapable of rapid, short term response to changing demand in electricity. These factors have contributed to electricity pricing being rigid and inflexible.
Nonetheless, recent changes in the electricity industry have resulted in a dramatic change in the way in which electricity is sold. At least in the United States of America, there is a market for real time trading in electricity supplies. This occurs, despite the fact that most electricity is still generated by large, fixed power plants, incapable of rapid response.
In accordance with the present invention, it is understood that an energy service provider can be an energy commodity broker, and can assume the commodities risk associated with energy trading. The energy service provider often takes speculative positions, either being long or short on a specific energy commodity.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method enabling the real time buying and selling of electrical power between a fuel cell powered vehicle and a consumer of electricity, the method comprising:
(i) providing connections to the vehicle for the supply of a fuel and for transfer of electricity;
(ii) determining the current cost of fuel and price paid for generating electricity;
(iii) based at least on the cost of fuel and price paid for generating electricity, determining whether to make the fuel cell powered vehicle available for generation of electricity; and
(iv) when fuel is consumed by the vehicle and electricity generated by the vehicle, collecting data on the quantity of fuel consumed and amount of electricity generated, calculating the cost of the fuel and the value of the electricity generated, providing a debit charge for the cost of fuel consumed and a credit charge for the value of electricity generated.
In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for enabling the real time buying and selling of electrical power between a vehicle having a fuel cell power unit and an energy service provider, the method comprising:
(i) providing connections to at least one vehicle for the supply of a fuel and for transfer of electricity;
(ii) handing over control of the fuel cell power unit of each vehicle to an energy service provider;
(iii) the energy service provider determining when to operate the fuel cell power unit of each vehicle and setting the load level for each fuel cell power unit; and
(iv) when fuel is consumed by each vehicle and electricity generated by each vehicle, collecting data on the quantity of fuel consumed and amounts of electricity generated, and calculating the cost of the fuel and the value of the electricity generated.
In accordance with a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of generating electrical power utilizing fuel cell power units of vehicles, the method comprising;
(1) providing connections to a plurality of fuel cell powered vehicle for the supply of a fuel and for transfer of electricity from the vehicle;
(2) supplying fuel to each vehicle and charging for fuel used by each vehicle;
(3) receiving electricity generated by each vehicle and paying for the electricity at a first, interruptible rate; and
(4) aggregating the electricity generated by the plurality of vehicles, and reselling the aggregated electricity as an uninterruptible electrical supply at a higher, uninterruptible rate.
In accordance with a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of generating electricity from the fuel cell power unit of a fuel cell powered vehicle. The method comprising;
(1) supplying fuel to the vehicle;
(2) generating electricity in the fuel cell power unit and transferring the electricity from the vehicle;
(3) dividing the generated electricity into first and second portions, and consuming the first portion of generated electricity locally;
(4) transmitting and selling the second portion of generated electricity to an electricity transmission and distribution grid; and
(5) metering the net amount of electricity transmitted to the transmission and distribution grid, or taken from the transmission and distribution grid, in a set time period.
In accordance with a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system of generating electrical power from a vehicle including a fuel cell power unit and financing the cost of the vehicle, the method comprising:
(1) providing a fuel cell powered vehicle to a vehicle operator;
(2) having the vehicle operator enter into a contract providing for at least one of an initial lump sum payment and regular payments to cover at least part of the cost of the vehicle;
(3) providing in the contract for the operator to commit to parking the vehicle at selected docking stations for generation of electricity;
(4) when the vehicle is parked at one of said selected docking stations, supplying fuel to a vehicle, generating electricity from the fuel cell power unit of the vehicle and selling the electricity; and
(5) utilizing income generated from sale of electricity to cover part of the cost of the vehicle.